Malicious PDF — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 53cbe403e59bb212…

MALICIOUS

PDF

3.8 KB
MD5: 9249b672745eceeb7036f6cd8a7c6d5d SHA-1: c0b7a3f99a8e6b1c4cac9170ad194274509a8539 SHA-256: 53cbe403e59bb2129b32d3abf5eca68f3e19bca8cea9274e7cb9c8eb6dcbe3ae
112 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.001 PowerShell T1204.002 Malicious File

The critical ClamAV detection 'Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36178' strongly indicates malicious intent. Low-severity heuristics for PDF JavaScript actions, embedded JS streams, and string decoding (fromCharCode) further support this. The PDF structure also shows evidence of hex and 85 decode filters, often used to obfuscate malicious content. The embedded JavaScript is likely responsible for exploiting a vulnerability to download and execute a secondary payload.

Heuristics 6

  • ClamAV: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36178 critical CLAMAV_DETECTION
    ClamAV detected this file as malware: Pdf.Exploit.Agent-36178
  • ASCIIHexDecode filter (with exploit indicators) medium PDF_FILTER_HEX
    Hex-encoding filter present alongside exploit delivery indicators — often used to hide payload or shellcode bytes
  • JavaScript action low PDF_JAVASCRIPT
    PDF contains a /JavaScript action. Generic JavaScript is common in benign forms; specific dangerous APIs are scored by separate rules.
  • Embedded JS stream low PDF_JS
    PDF references a /JS stream. Generic JavaScript is common in benign forms; specific dangerous APIs are scored by separate rules.
  • String.fromCharCode low PDF_FROMCHARCODE
    String.fromCharCode found — used to construct payload strings dynamically. Common in benign JavaScript libraries for codepoint manipulation, so this alone is informational; weaponised use is also caught by the dedicated fromCharCode-stage and exploit-shape rules. (matched inside decoded stream)
  • ASCII85Decode filter (with exploit indicators) low PDF_FILTER_85
    ASCII85 encoding filter present alongside exploit delivery indicators — uncommon outside of obfuscation